


Audrey and Chad

by curl



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-08-11 08:40:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7884328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curl/pseuds/curl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little oneshot to give some closure I was missing in the movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Audrey and Chad

**Author's Note:**

> English is my second language and if you find any grammatical errors or words/phrases I used incorrectly, please tell me, I want to improve :)

When Audrey left the field as Ben announced his love for Mal, she'd run straight to Chad. She immediately chose him because she thought it would hurt Ben the most, as Chad had been one of his closest friends. But when she presented Chad as her new boyfriend, Ben didn't care, he didn't even give her any kind of reaction.  
To be fair, Audrey was never in love with him the way she wanted to, and as much as she wanted to have those feelings her mother told her about, they just weren't there. Dating Ben may have appeared to be a reasonable choice, but falling in love is not something that can be forced.  
Still, when Ben showed no consideration for her feelings, when he didn't really break up with her, when he didn't even look at her properly, she was so deeply hurt like she had never been before.   
Actually, until this moment her life had been free of care and she'd never experienced what it truly meant to be hurt. A broken heart couldn't be compared to a stain on her dress or the wrong kind of candy.  
Of course she later learned Ben hab been spelled, and that he probably would've chosen a lot more respectful way to break up with her, but in that moment she didn't know, and the perfect fairy tale romance she'd always dreamed of was suddenly shattered to pieces.

Chad on the other hand didn't really understand what was going on. He truly wasn't known for his wits, but he never thought much of it. He enjoyed his status as Charming Jr. and was used to the royal way of living. The only thing that was missing from his happily ever after was a beautiful princess, and when Audrey came to him that day he scored big time.

*

Audrey was sitting at one of the tables outside the Auradon Prep cafeteria and with her were her boyfriend Chad, Jane, Lonnie and a bunch of others. Altough she had officially made peace with the villain kids and Ben, the air between them was still heavy. They never talked more than necessary and Audrey wasn't sure if she had truly forgiven them.  
But then Mal stood up from her table a couple of feet away and approached Audrey. „Can I talk to you for a moment?“  
Audrey, putting on her signature smile – the one she had practiced since she was little – answered, „Sure, what do you need?“  
„I'd like to talk to you alone, if that's okay.“ Mal had worked a lot on her demeanor, but one could tell that being polite and friendly still didn't come naturally to her.  
„Alright,“ she said and turned to her friends, „I'll be right back.“  
The two of them walked away far enough so the others couldn't hear them.  
Mal took a deep breath and spoke, „Ben and I were talking, and we both think that we need to apologize to you.“  
Audrey struggled to keep her friendly expression. 'Yes', she thought, 'You do need to apologize!' On one hand, she was glad to finally get the apology she deserved, on the other hand unadressed anger was cooking up inside her and all those ugly feelings she didn't allow herself to have were about to break out.  
„Alright, where is Ben, then?“, she demanded, albeit sounding harsher than intended.  
„He is busy with king stuff right now, but I didn't want to wait any longer.“  
„Of course he is“, she mumbled bitterly under her breath and then continued louder, „So? What do you have to say?“  
Mal tried to keep eye contact, but Audrey's confidence was intimidating. „What I want to say is that, even though I didn't mean to hurt you, you still got hurt in the process. I've talked a lot about this with Fairy Godmother in goodness class. Of course then I didn't care too much about who I was hurting, because I was following my mother's instructions. The truth is, I was scared and I didn't think of others. What you need to understand though is that I was raised that way. I was told to only care for myself. How my actions affect other people is something I'm basically learning from scratch“, she paused for a second to breathe, „But anyway, I'm not trying to excuse what I did. I know it was wrong and I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me one day.“  
Audrey thought for a few moments about what she should say and decided it was best if she just were honest. „It's true that I don't understand why you did the things you did. Obviously we have been brought up in different worlds, but“, she sighed and her voice took on a softer tone, „I appreaciate it, I really do, even if I wish you would have come sooner. I can see that you are trying though, and frankly I feel like I have to work on myself as well.“ This was probably what Audrey had needed to be able to really forgive Mal. „It.. it still hurts, but I forgive you. And I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance when you came here.“  
Mal laughed, „Well, technically you were right not to trust me.“ Then she gave Audrey a warm smile, „Thank you.“

*

When Audrey came back to their table, she simply said, „I had a good talk with Mal“, with no further explanation, and Chad couldn't help but wonder if she even really considered him her friend, let alone her boyfriend.  
That afternoon, like almost everyday, Chad had toruney practice. Ever since they first played together, this rivalry had formed between him and Jay. Chad was jealous of Jay, because before he came Chad had been the star player alongside Ben. It was hard for Chad to admit that he wasn't as good as Jay, who was also rather cocky about his skills. But the reformed villain didn't seem to consider it to be an actual rivalry, more like innocent fun, especially now that he didn't have to be evil anymore.  
Still, Chad wasn't the best tourney player anymore, Ben hardly had time for him as he was spending most of his little free time with Mal, and his own girlfriend probably didn't even like him.   
He felt a little lost, a little alone, and it was strange, because he had never felt like this before. Or rather, he had never thought about it before. Maybe it had always been like this, but he just had been blinded by his perfect princely lifestyle. After the Isle kids had basically stirred up all of Auradon, his life had become very complex, or at least more complex than he could handle all at once.  
Fairy Godmother talked to them a lot about how the four kids had made progress and how they should all constantly try to be the best version of themselves. At first, Chad wasn't really paying attention, as he wasn't in pretty much every other subject, but after a while it got him thinking.   
He had always relied on his royal status to practically make him immune to any problems, but maybe it was time to be the prince his parents want him to be.  
Chad was lost in thought when Jay tackled him to get the ball and his first instinct had been to curse at him, but for the first time, he decided not to.  
Instead, after the game he went up to Jay and said, „Good practice!“  
Jay smiled and gave him a pat on the shoulder, which may have been a little too forcful but Chad wouldn't admit that.  
Maybe he just had to work harder to become better than Jay. Maybe it was time for him to change out of his jerky jock facade. For his parents and his friends, and for Audrey.

*

On the morning of the next day, before class started, Ben stopped Audrey in the hallway. „Audrey! I'm glad to finally get a hold of you. Mal told you I wanted to talk to you as well, right?“  
„Yes, but we can't talk right now, we're gonna be late“, Audrey responded.  
„I'm sure being late once won't be a problem“, said Ben, still hoping to be able to do this right away, but Audrey was not going to let him rush through this. „Ben, I have a perfect record that I won't ruin, and now is not a good time. We're going to do this properly or not at all. So, are you free after school?“  
Ben was absolutely not free, but he couldn't let her down again, so he decided that for once his appointments would have to wait, even though the others wouldn't be pleased with him. „Fine, let's meet right after our last class.“  
„Alright.“ Audrey smiled at her little triumph and turned around on her heel, which sent her ponytail flying around her head.

Chad had also asked to meet her and he was disappointed, but he seemed to understand why she had to talk to Ben instead. She felt bad to leave Chad hanging, especially because he was really trying to be a good boyfriend, but after she had cleared thigns up with Ben, she'd have all the time in the world for Chad, even though she wasn't sure if she actually wanted that. They didn't exactly enter their relationship out of love. Although neither had she and Ben, and she started to wonder if she had ever been in love at all. Being with a prince just seemed like something she was supposed to do.  
Ben was waiting for her at the entrance and the two started walking away from the building.  
Both were quiet for a while, Ben seemed unsure of how to start the conversation, so Audrey decided to meet him halfway. „I can tell Mal makes you happy“, she said, with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, and looking at the ground before her.  
„Yes, she does“, Ben answered and Audrey continued before he could say anything else, „What went wrong with us? Why did it not work out? I mean, aside from the spell. We weren't meant to last anyway, were we?“  
Ben sighed, „I don't think so, no. At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. You know, me, the polished prince, and you, the beautiful princess.. I never really thought about how there must have been more to our parents' love stories than just their happy ending. I'm sorry I couldn't be the prince you deserve, and I'm sorry I treated you the way I did, even after the spell was washed away.“  
„I admit that during our relatonship I was pretty selfish and I think I cared more about our reputation than I cared about you. And I think I never really was in love with you, maybe I had a little crush at first, but nothing more.. It's kind of sad, actually.“ Audrey stopped walking and looked at Ben. „But still, it hurt a lot!“, she added with emphasis.  
Ben took her hand and squeezed it carefully. „I know, I was a huge jerk. But I want you to know that I still care about you and I want to be your friend.“  
Audrey smiled softly and said, „Oh, I care about you too. I'd like to remain friends, but I think I still need time to heal.“  
„Alright, I understand. And by the way, I can tell you make Chad very happy.“

*

Later that day Audrey decided to pay Chad a visit nonetheless, they were about to have cheerleading and tourney practice at the same time anyway. She needed to figure out whether or not she should stay together with him, because at first she was using him and that wasn't fair, and she didn't want to lead him on.  
When she showed up at his door, he smiled brightly at her, and they walked to the tourney field together.  
Audrey was telling him about this new routine they were doing, but Chad didn't really listen. Instead, he looked at her and said, „Can I ask you something?“  
Audrey was a bit taken aback by this unusually serious tone of his, but answered, „Of course, anything.“  
„Are you, uhm, do you actually like me?“  
Audrey didn't know what to say, but Chad didn't give her a chance anyway, „Because I really like you! I didn't when you were with Ben, because he is my friend, but when you said I should become your boyfriend I felt like the luckiest guy on earth. But.. but I'm not sure if you feel the same way about me and I think if you don't then you shouldn't feel like you have to be with me.“  
Audrey put one hand on her chest and looked him in the eyes. She wasn't sure if he even fully grasped what had happened, but the fact that he, the cool jock, cared so much for her made her heart melt. And in that moment she knew.  
„Yes, I do like you“, she announced, took his hand and placed a kiss on his cheek. Chad smiled like he could not believe his luck and hand in hand they continued to walk to the toruney field.


End file.
